The Kurdistan Workersʼ Party declared a ceasefire with Turkey, effective from the morning of March 1.
Hurriyet writes about this.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Since 1984, the organization has been waging war against Turkey, demanding autonomy for Turkeyʼs Kurds.
The Kurds are an ethnic group whose representatives live in eastern Turkey, western Iran, northern Iraq and northern Syria. The majority of Kurds are Muslim, with minorities of Yazidis, Christians and Jews. The issue of creating an independent Kurdistan in the Middle East was raised during the 20th century, after the First and Second World Wars. However, the Kurds still do not have their own state.
On February 27, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison, called on his followers to lay down their arms and cease their activities. He also called on the Turkish leadership to “show respect for ethnic minorities, freedom of expression, and the right to democratic self-organization.”
"We agree with the call of Leader Öcalan and declare that, for our part, we will abide by [the agreements] and fulfill the demands. We declare a ceasefire as of today," the PKK statement, distributed by Hurriyet, said.
Disarming the PKK could be a major political success for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the American newspaper The New York Times notes. It would eliminate a major threat to Turkeyʼs internal security and increase Erdoganʼs chances of changing the constitution, which would allow him to run for a third term.
If Turkey supports the Kurdistan Workersʼ Partyʼs decision, it could end a decade of conflict that is estimated to have killed at least 40 000 people.
Relations between Erdogan and the PKK have been softening in recent years. A new attempt to resolve the conflict began after Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party of Turkey and an Erdogan supporter, suggested in late October 2024 that Öcalan be given the opportunity to speak in the Turkish parliament to announce the disarmament of the Kurds. After that, in December 2024, Öcalan declared that he was “ready to take a positive step and make an appeal” in response to this proposal.
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